


Mad Mall Mambo

by Coils



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Manga & Anime, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, Shopping Malls, Undertale Monsters on the Surface, living doll
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-05-17
Packaged: 2020-02-27 09:45:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18736552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Coils/pseuds/Coils
Summary: Mad Mew Mew gets into trouble during one of her many shifts at a Surface Mall.





	1. Window shopping

“No, damn it, you stupid human! Get back here!”

Every head on the mall, human and monster alike, turned to face the irate yelling.

A short, scrawny, glasses-wearing human dashed away from the comic book store, attempting to slam the door shut as he did so. A crimson, mermaid-like monster intercepted it with his flipper and stood in the doorframe, accusingly pointing towards the fleeing thief.

“Stop that kid! He took all of my promotional bookmarks at once!”

All the onlookers’ eyes fixated on the speeding human, who clumsily clutched a pile of cardboard rectangles, slipping away from his wobbly grasp in flocks of three to five. As observed by those who scooped them off the ground or off their faces, a pink-haired catgirl gleefully smiled and flashed a ‘victory’ sign. They read ‘Mew Mew Kissy Cutie: the motion Picture’. The mall patrons chuckled and shook their heads as they let the harmless scene unfold.

The shopkeeper hopped with frustration, disappointed at their underwhelming reaction.

“Aw, c’mon, those were VERY expensive to print!” he grunted, skipping on his fin, hot in the wrongdoer’s trail.

In his store’s window two mannequins, fashioned after MMKC characters, had been left behind. On the left side was the original Mew Mew, its signature pink dress and cheerful smile, so dazzling, it spread to the faces of those who gazed upon it. On the right, a similar figure, but instead of resembling a princess, it was more akin to an evil sorceress. Its dark blue skin, sinister black and orange dress and mischievously evil grin being the most striking differences.

Two humans, one with a husky, flabby build; and another with lankiness rivalling that of any skeleton monster carefully let themselves in, slowly securing the door behind them. Shortly afterwards, the welcome sign flipped to display “SORRY, WE’RE CLOSED”, and the windows’ metal shutters dropped with a clank.

Inside, an empty stand with the words “Take one” forlornly lay on the ground. It had been toppled as the nerdy human teenagers relocated the pedestal the animatronics rested in, moving the sinister character at the right to the centre of the store.

“This one. Come on. I don’t know how long Murph can keep him busy,” barked the thinner human, stepping aside to let his portly companion stand in the perfect picture-taking distance.

“Sooo uuuh, what’s with the edgy getup? Mew Mew goes through a goth phase or something in the movie?” the human holding the camera snickered. His emaciated partner’s eyes frowned.

“Bro, she’s Topaz! Mew Mew’s evil doppelganger from the Rainbow Mirror dimension. Did you even watch this season?” scoffed the skinny human.

His partner in crime shrugged as he wiped his camera’s lens with his shirt. “Pffft, will you stop shilling that crappy cashgrab? She’s not in the manga so as far as I know, she doesn’t matter”, he snickered, fixing his glasses.

“Oh, shut it and get the camera ready,” retorted his partner, “if he won’t let us buy this thing, we have to get our reference material ourselves.”

He straightened Topaz’s shoulder line, causing her arms to clack in place, so he could test their resistance. He posed them into a menacing arm-cross with surprising ease, nodding. This mannequin must have had some very well-kept joints.

His associate scratched his chin. “Yeah, what’s with that?” he pondered. “You already have one like that one over there. Is he not selling Topaz because he custom made her or something?”

“Whatever. Get this pose!” barked the slimmer dork, backing away from the mannequin.

The snaps and clacks of the animatronic’s joints filled the store as the two trespassers frantically shuffled around it, forcing it into poses. They ranged from seductive, to menacing to vulnerable, demonstrating the life-sized puppet’s dexterity. Time was of the essence, so neither of them wasted a second, snapshot after snapshot snapped once the leader of the two gave an okay sign to his personal photographer.

After removing his camera from his vision, the stouter dork wiped his sweaty brow and scratched his chin, having realized something. Topaz’s facial expression hadn’t budged, not even a little. So, if this was a custom doll fashioned from one like in the left, how could it bear that grimace? Mannequin faces were not that life-like. Did the shopkeeper carve it himself or something?

He wondered. His greasy hand reached for the evil feline’s sombre simper, sticking his fingers into its face as he tried to pull her eyelids down. They would not budge. He pressed harder and harder, raising his eyebrow as he noticed that, they appeared to be resisting his push, rather than be stuck. Suddenly, a loud snap caused him to retreat his sweat-covered mitt, and wince back with a groan.

Topaz’s head fell to the ground with a pitiful thud.

It rolled a short trek towards the lanky human’s feet, who intercepted it with his heel, kicking it up and catching it with his hand. He flashed a grin to his friend, pointing to his trophy.

“Hah! Just like in the last episode,” he snickered. His friend sighed, heart still beating quite fast. As soon as the shocke wore off he squinted, noticing a hand-shaped imprint left in Topaz’s face. It had the same skin colour Mew Mew did. His palm, on the other hand, had been somehow smeared with the evil doppelganger’s skin color.

“Wow, it is a like the one on the left… did he just coat it in paint? I think that’s why the cheap bastard didn’t want to sell it to you, dude…” he slovenly wiped the dark mess on a tissue.

His friend placed the mannequin’s head back in its joint, spinning it in place with a snap. “Yeah, sure. We already got what we wanted. Let’s get out through the backdoor. My uncle has a sock store in this floor and he told me every shop has one. But before we go…” he snatched his friend’s camera with a childishly dopey smile, then kneeled to lift the mannequin’s skirt.

The garish dress’ fabric bobbed, revealing no underwear, but a pair of purple sweatpants adorned with a spider web motif. His accomplice stifled a chuckle.

“Wait, what is THAT doing here? Why did that weirdo put it in there?” he mocked, tapping the mannequin’s knee. “Did he not want anyone taking a peek up his waifu’s skirt? How pathetic! Hm?” he lowered his gaze, realizing there was something else attached to the animatronic’s leg.

Some sort of belt with a holster stuck to the doll’s lower thigh. The human’s trembling fingers slipped through the pouch’s fabric and scratched its lid open.

A sheen on his glasses was reflecting from an army knife’s menacing blade.

Sweatier and more nervous than ever, he swallowed. “What the… is that… a KNIFE?!” he gawked. Fidgeting with utter confusion, he reached for the hand weapon, but his arm stopped short of its target as the mannequin somehow clutched his fingers around his wrist. Both humans winced, the chubby teenager’s camera dropping to the floor.

Her skin a jarring mixture of flesh and dark blue tints, Topaz’s ghastly glare had been twisted into a mask of sheer fury, cat ears raised like horns.

“Enough. Enough! ENOUGH!!!” roared the furious feline in a shrill, yet guttural growl. Her paw reeled back, claws swiping towards the human’s face. He recoiled back in pain, landing on his butt.

Eyes closed in a frowned brow, the animated cartoon character closed her knife’s holster and jumped from her stand, holding her cumbersome dress to walk in strides towards the human. He shuffled back on the ground, crawling away from her. His friend began stepping away as well after he scooped his camera off the ground.

Topaz accusingly pointed towards the human, indignantly tapping her heels.

“You FREAK! Don’t you know it’s VERY RUDE to take other people’s stuff, especially when they’re working?!” she hissed. The human’s lips quivered, gawking at the thin trail of blood that had sprung from his hand wound. Horror-stricken, he stared back at his assailant.

“You scratched me… n-not even my own cat scratched me before! A-are you a monster?” He muttered. His friend shook his head and waved his hands, baffled by his impolite response.

Topaz retorted with an impish smile. Her eyes gradually turned to yellow voids as she edged closer to the human, who fidgeted against the wall, then grabbed him by the neck of his shirt.

“Not even an apology?! You… you…” she hissed. “That’s it! You want action poses!? I’LL GIVE YOU ACTION POSES!!”


	2. Tea break

Shyren’s hair and sunglasses bobbed to the rhythm of a spooky tune, faintly whispered by her earbuds. She hovered her way towards a café, scouting every table. Her enthusiastic dance dwindled to a halt once her gaze fixated on the first vacant seat she found, next to which a familiar arachnid sat.

Muffet’s smug smile and four waving claws greeted the irritated fish.

“And what are YOU doing here?” Shyren spat, revealing a dirty look underneath her shades. The dainty spider passive-aggressively stirred her fragrant tea.

“What, dearie? Do I need a permit from you to say hello to my dear friend Maddington after her shift? How absurd! Ahuhuhu~!” Muffet mocked, taking a sip. Shyren’s eyes rolled as she pushed a chair aside, hoisting herself over it.

She crossed her fins and growled: “Then I don’t need a permit to sit here either, do I?” lifting her flipper in the air to call a waiter’s attention. Muffet drummed twelve fingers on the table, teaspoon making her teacup ring like a bell.

Her five eyes gaped at the songstress, who ordered a cappuccino. Their glares met in silence, until the employee brought Shyren’s coffee. As gracefully as her tiny fins allowed, she scooped the cup and sipped her beverage.

“So, come here often?” the arachnid inquired.

Shyren did not take her eyes off her tea: “Every time I’m around,” she sighed with a shrug. “Listen, I don’t mind you seeing her from time to time, but you have to stop acting like this is a competition,” she said, putting her cup down and smiling. “I don’t have anything against you, you know… we can hang out, the three of us!” Muffet rolled her eyes and exhaled.

“More like the two of us!” the spider whined. “She is always so busy…” Muffet leant back on the chair and crossed her legs, a defeated expression on her face. “I’m lucky if I get to see her once a week.” Muffet bent forward until her chin rested on the table. “When she only worked at Grillby’s we had lunch every day!”

Shyren’s silent, jealousy-filled scowl shared her opinion more eloquently than any improper remark could. This information was news to her.

Her brow furrowed. “Wait a second!” she said, leaning towards Muffet. “How come you’re here then? Who’s taking care of your bakery?” she inquired. The spider lass grinned, making Shyren wince as her five eyes opened at once.

“Ahuhu~!” howled Muffet. “Well, dearie, you know this baby spider is pretty resourceful!” Shyren raised an eyebrow.

 

 

* * *

 

“That’ll be 4,50, ma’am,” squeaked what sounded like ten shrill voices speaking in unison, combining their efforts just to be audible.

Muffet’s bakery’s sole customer, a portly middle-aged human lady contemplated the fidgeting, wobbly figure tending the desk. All the basics of a humanoid were there. It wore a hairnet and an apron, which had a shirt inside. But the source of the human lady’s concern was the gap between that shirt and hairnet. It appeared to be nothing but a head-shaped black void, two crackling white beads fidgeting inside.

The trembling human handed the uncanny baker a bill of five. The ghoul extended its arms, the wobbly gloves at the end unnaturally grasping the currency.

No human fingers would have bent and twisted like his did. They middle-aged woman could not help but think about tentacles.

As soon as she unhanded the money, she waved goodbye and snatched her donut bag, making a mad dash towards the exit. The baker’s sharp voice interrupted her race.

“Ma’am! Ma’am! You forgot the change!” cried the creature.

The woman tiptoed towards the desk with a grin. A pincer-like manoeuvre from her thumb and index fingers allowed her to retrieve her gold coin as carefully as possible. This accidentally caught a crevasse from the baker-like thing’s glove, and once she pulled, the glove came off along with her coin.

And an avalanche of spiders poured from within the sleeve.

The arachnids yelped in a panicked flurry as the woman dashed towards the door, screeching for her life. The man-like spider construct’s head tilted pitifully, its figure half deflated. The spider’s diminutive voices chattered:

“Okay, who’s leg slipped?”

“Hey, she dropped the coin!”

“Oh no, wait till she sees what the donuts are filled with…”

 

* * *

 

“I guess you could say I procured a…part time substitute! Ahuhuhuhu~” Muffet boasted. Shyren hated the way Muffet had emphasized the word “part”.

Nonetheless, her squinted chagrin shortly dissipated in a beaming smile as she reached for her coffe. She stroke a friendly conversation with her self-declared rival simply by politely asking. Overcoming her shyness had been worth it.

“Well Muffet, she’ll be here soon,” hummed Shyren. “Let’s have a good time today, okay?” Muffet nodded.

“Sure dearie! The more the merrier… I just cannot wait to see her again,” swooned the spider, a deep hue of purple tinting her cheeks. “I miss that peppy energy of hers!”

Back at the store, Maddington roared a husky battle cry as she head-locked the thin human against the ground.

Shyren’s cheeks reciprocated the blush. “Oh! Maybe we can go get some clothes!” she exclaimed. “She’d be glad to hang onto most of our bags, just like she helped me haul those speakers the other day. She’s much stronger than she looks!”

The scrawny human nerd begged for mercy as Maddy pressed his lanky body on her back, bending him in an L-shaped back-breaker.

“Oh, oh! Maybe we can go to my house and bake some apple pie!” Muffet’s blush reached critical purple, four of her hands on her shoulders and cheeks. “She’ll have all my apples sliced in a wink. So handy with the knife, that girl. The other day she taught me how to make such clean cuts…”

Mad Mew Mew had cornered the panting human, the blade of her knife waving frighteningly close to his sweaty face “This is a knife! A knife!! A KNIFE!!! Had you never seen one?! What’s so special about it?! Why were you trying to swipe mine, you FOOL?!” she bellowed.

Shyren fidgeted, her sparkly eyes watering with envy. “H-how did she exactly help you? D-did she have t-t-t-to g-g-guide your h-h-hand?” she babbled. Her hair stood on end as the spider leant back on her chair and held her chin up, eating the fish alive with her smug simper.

“Oh, dearie, are you jealous? I’m sure she’d do the same for you! You are friends after all! Ahuhu~” chortled the spider. Shyren huffed, glancing aside.

“Well, I have kissed her so… I think I win.” She whispered, her frown spreading to Muffet’s face.

“Pah!” spat the dainty arachnid, dismissively slurping the rest of her tea. She dropped her teacup, tapping the table and giving Shyren another mischievous look. “Hey, it’s no big deal, dearie… she hasn’t fused yet, so we can share her. We’ll take half her body parts each! Ahuhuhuhuhu~!” she howled.

Shyren snorted and giggled with her mouth closed, struggling not to spit out her tea.

Muffet impishly waved her finger, her cackle intensifying. “Yes, let us do that! We’ll play rock paper scissors, and whoever wins gets her head!”

The girls shared a loud, boisterous laugh.

 

* * *

 

 

Maddington shadowboxed and panted, beckoning the downed, whimpering human. Aside from the scratched cheek, dirt-smeared clothes and the fact he was trembling like an eel, he seemed unharmed.

“Is that all?! Huh? Huh?! HUH?! C’mon, get up! I still have some material to show you! Have a spine!” she yelled. The human shook his head and moaned, his best attempt at grovelling.

His chubby companion snapped picture after picture, eyes sparkling with admiration.

“Dude… Topaz is so based! I think I need to watch the anime now…” he gasped. Maddy’s eyes shined an intense, unnerving yellow light as she fixated them on the portly photographer.

“You’re next,” she growled. The human nervously smiled and winced as she lifted her skirt and reached for another holster, containing a magical baton. The pink kitty head on its tip began glowing as she spun it around. “Time to give you a primer on magic attacks…” spat the ghostly feline. The wide-eyed human stood in place like a statue.

The sordid scene was interrupted by a bundle of keys jiggling. The store owner stepped inside with labored breathing, followed by two towering police officers, a burly human and a hulky dog monster. Murph, the human diversion, was carried by the canine cop by the neck of his shirt.

The shopkeeper panted, tugging at his head fins. A human was curled in a fetal position on the floor of his shop. Another one trembled in place with his eyes ready to pop out of their orbits, and the model he hired was waving a glowing staff around with a murderous grin. His eyes darted all around, unsure what to complain about first.

Maddy dropped her magic-channeling tool with a gasp. She winked, and masked her unyielding scowl with a theatrical smile.

“…Did I overdo it again?” she whispered, sticking her tongue out.


	3. Clearance sale

Maddy lifelessly dragged her feet across the mall, sighing. No longer donning Topaz’s likeness, she had slipped in a comfortable-looking blue summer dress, hair neatly arranged in a ponytail.

“I got scolded by the boss…” she lamented aloud, mall clientele turning their heads and raising their eyebrows. “If those humans hadn’t been trespassing and misusing store property, we could have gotten in big trouble…” she reached for her turquoise fish spine-patterned bag, retrieving her cellphone.

A nearby human girl screamed her lungs out as Maddy’s head was catapulted into the air.

“And I’m going to be late! Shyren is going to be so mad at me…” she whined, head and body dashing forward and meeting each other along the way. She pulled a crumpled note in which directions for the café of their meeting had been jotted down.

Her hair ornament jingling with each stride, she darted towards the food court, ignoring everything and everyone in her path.

But she couldn’t ignore Shyren’s smiling face.

Her head stopped in place, rest of her body sprinting ahead and slowly returning, looking as disoriented as her befuddled grimace. She rubbed her eyes, convinced the accumulated stress of three part time jobs and a drama school was making her see things. Fortunately, once her sight cleared she realized it was just an ad for a music box, adorning a store’s window.

Behind Shyren’s heavenly smile, the sign read: “SONIC BOON. THE SEA-DWELLING SONGSTRESS’S POTENT SONG, IN YOUR POCKET!” in obnoxiously bright bold letters. A white strip of paper reading “Last units” had been crudely stuck to the text’s bottom.

Maddington’s silicone cheeks unstuck from the glass, leaving a round imprint. She crossed her arms and nodded, face full of relief and of approval.

“That’s it!” she narrated aloud. “I’ll get one of those for her to sign, and she’ll think I was late because I was getting it! It’s perfect! Perfect!! PERFECT!!!” She wildly articulated every step of her master plan, enunciating it as loud as possible. A nearby monster mother had to pull her kid away for him to stop staring. Confidently striding, she stepped inside the poorly lit store, greeted by a wrinkly anteater monster wearing a camo shirt. She inhaled.

“Good afternoon! Do you have any “Sonic Boons” left?” she shouted. The shopkeeper meekly nodded.

“Aye, you’re very lucky, young lass, I only have one left,” he murmured, pointing towards the end of the nearest hallway. “It’s on the clearance shelf over there.” Maddy nodded and grinned, dashing towards the lone shelf on the store’s back.

The prized music box lay on the middle of a shady, empty rack. She cautiously approached it, whistling a victory jingle. But just as she laid her fingers on it, her arm was yanked in, head bonking against the shelf’s iron bars.

“Ow! What the-“the formidable force on the other side snapped her hand off her joint, taking the music box along. “Hey!” she hissed. “I got to that first!”

A singsong, feminine voice echoed from behind the rack. “O-oh no! I’m so sorry!”

Maddy waved her nub of an arm in front of her fuming face and roared:  “Oh, you’re not even close to sorry enough, pal!” and ran around the shelf, towards the source of the gentle voice. Just as she reached the beginning of the hall she pointed and screamed: “I’ll teach what sorry meaaa-“she stuttered, a shadow cast over her.

A large pair of eyes stood in front of her vision, each one as large as her head.

The purple, horned armor-clad figure loomed at almost three times Maddington’s height. The face in its abdomen contorted in a discomforted sneer. It clutched the musical ornament, trying to shake the disembodied hand off.

Maddington trembled as Knight Knight flaunted the music box.

“Uh, is this paw yours? It’s stuck to my purchase…” she complained, rattling the artifact, and the orphaned claw along it. The humiliation snapped Maddy from her frightened trance long enough for her to show offense.

“Wh-what was that, pal?! That is my music box, I got to it first! Hand it over!” She growled.

Knight Knight’s helmet clattered as she shook her upper head: “Uh-huh! I saw it first, Kitty, thank you very much.” She tapped the box. “Besides, someone like you has no use for something like this. Take it from me,” she lectured, waving her finger. Maddington crossed her arms and indignantly tapped her foot.

“W-what do you mean someone like ME?! Pal…” She flashed an aggressively smug grin towards the towering knight. “Oh yeah? Please, do tell me all about how we ignoramuses do not appreciate fine art like you do. Do enlighten me!” she mocked with a sarcastic bow.

Knight Knight huffed and shrugged: “Well, this is no ordinary music box, you see,” she pompously spat, “notice the-“ she turned her head, interrupted by someone patting her shoulder. It was a disembodied, floating hand. The split second she remained distracted by the levitating paw, the music box slipped off her relaxed grip, its pair having snatched it off her hand.

She flailed forwards, gawking in confusion at Maddy fleeing with her purchase.

 “Hey! Huh…what…?” she babbled, both her faces visibly confused. Her confusion didn’t last long, as she summoned her mace and tapped the ground with it before dashing towards the cat mannequin. “Get back here! That is mine!”

Maddington hurled the music box’s price towards the cash register, not losing a second in darting through the door. Knight Knight swiftly followed suit, stopping a second to slam her helping of cash on the desk as well. Her metal glove left an imprint on the wooden desk.

Maddington’s head turned 180°, sticking its tongue out: “Wrong, you big trash bucket, it’s mine! Mine!! MINE!!!” her voice got lost in the distance.

The shrugging clerk simply stuffed the double benefit on the register without a complaint.

He stretched. Seeing as his last “Sonic Boon” had been purchased, he leaped over the desk to remove the cardboard ad from the store’s window. As he did so, the clearance sticker slipped away, revealing a line that read: “NOW TWICE AS DEADLY!”

 

* * *

 

Maddington ran on all fours through the mall crowd. Nimble enough to slip beneath the longest pairs of legs or leap over the shortest people, her advance was swift and unfaltering. Most people just hissed away or let her through with a “Hey!”

On the other hand, most of them screamed and leapt away to avoid the horned, armored behemoth chasing her. The cumbersome, lumbering mercenary at least had the decency to apologize out loud, her faces visibly apologetic.

“Sorry…uh…coming through!” she lamented, holding her mace towards her target. “Hold it right there, Kitty!” bellowed Knight Knight.

Way ahead of her chaser, Maddy took a sharp turn towards an alleyway, disappearing from Knight Knight’s sight. She strode towards the fork, finding herself in a gloomy, cardboard-filled dead end. Piles and piles of boxes lay scattered about, having become indistinguishable from the walls and ceiling. At its end, Maddington’s shadow rested on its hands against the wall.

Knight Knight thumped her staff on the ground and crossed her arms, advancing towards Maddy’s resigned figure.

“That is as far as you go, Kitty.” She tapped her shoulder. “Now, will you listen already and give me th-“ Maddington’s body fell on the ground with a hollow, lifeless thud. Her empty expression showed the trademark default Mew Mew smile. Knight Knight prodded the lifeless doll with her boot. “What the- a dummy?”

Atop the stacks of boxes, a high-pitched voice mocked: “Yes! That’s you!” A stylish, completely bare human mannequin kicked a box loose, sending an onslaught of cardboard toppling towards Knight Knight. “You!!” The purple titan barely had time to look alive and cover her head, buried under the cardboard avalanche. “YOU!!!” triumphantly cried the mannequin, going limp and dropping along the crates as a blurry yellow fog exited its body. It seeped through the downed boxes, like shampoo down several drains.

Shortly, Maddy’s individual body parts crawled from underneath the cracks and gaps on the box pile, completing her figure. She dashed towards a lone pair of boxes, scooping her bag and music box from the gap between.

“Idiot! Nyahaha! Later!” she chortled, speeding away.

The quivering boxes were blasted against the walls, and out of them emerged Knight Knight, holding her club high. She frowned, a dazzled look on her faces.

“A ghost. Crafty little imp,” she murmured, sprinting away.

Knight Knight’s echoing clanks made Maddington’s ears twitch, and head to turn around on its joint, seething with annoyance.

“Ugh! I thought that’d hold you longer… whatever!” She resumed her mad dash, sticking her tongue out. “You’ll never catch me alive! Nyahahahah-“ Maddy’s advance was interrupted as her leg tripped on a “WET FLOOR” sign, sending her careening towards the ground.

She groaned as her chin squarely hit the floor, as did the music box, which clacked open.

A miniature Shyren emerged from within and began to spin around.

Knight Knight gasped and ceased her race, stumbling flat on her armored butt. She scuttled further back, both of her faces stricken with pure terror.

Maddy’s eyes watered at the adorable miniature likeness of her precious friend.

“Aww… almost as cute as the real thing…” she squeaked. The diminutive Shyren stopped twirling, clumsily clacking in place. Knight Knight blew a relieved sigh.

“Oh… thank god, it’s…it’s stuck!” she cried, then held her hand towards Maddy. “H-hey Kitty, get away from that right now! It’s not safe, I tell you!” the mall-goers followed her advice, backing away from the downed cat girl. She simply held the box above her head and pranced in place.

She jeered: “That’s right, coward! I win! Cower in place! FEAR MY-“ several people were sent tumbling several feet as a deafening cacophony resembling Shyren’s voice made Maddington’s body pieces scatter in the air. Every nearby store window shattered, and every dog and canine monster in the mall began howling.

The whole mall turned their eyes to a solitary music box on the ground, its owner vanished without a trace.

One by one, Maddy’s pieces slowly dropped to the ground, like boulders after a volcanic eruption. Her head fell last, eyes white and lifeless, mouth wide open, twisted in pain.

Knight Knight approached the pitiful scene shaking her head, then retrieved the box and closed it.

“Warned you... it was a sound grenade. What were you expecting a magical armory to carry? Uuuh… good knight, Kitty,” she sighed.

Maddington’s head emitted a muffled groan.

Knight Knight’s head shook some more.

She noticed a piece of paper sticking from Maddy’s bag, and scooped it off the ground. It showed the address to a café. She scratched her chin.

 

* * *

 

“He did not!” guffawed Shyren, putting her cake slice down, and reaching for her phone.

Muffet nodded: “Yes! Honest! And then, the human kneels in front of my cousin and says…” Shyren slammed the table, indignantly checking the time. Muffet recoiled in her seat, eyes as wide as apples.

“Oh, come on! How long do we have to wait?!” hissed Shyren. “We’ve been here for an hour!” She impatiently tapped the table. Muffet dismissively flicked her wrist.

“Now, now… ahuhu~,” she nervously giggled. “Come now, dearie, do not fret. I bet she’s getting us something or ran into some trouble. I don’t think she’d jump into the arms of the first-“

Knight Knight cleared her throat, getting their attention.

“Good afternoon, girls!” she greeted. In her arms rested a reconstructed Maddy, grunting and drooling in her unconsciousness.

“Do you know this kitty-“ the iron-plated monster gawked, eyes on Shyren. “W-wait! Are you… are you SHYREN?!” she cried, dropping Maddington like a dead weight to lean on the table. “I-I-I’m your biggest fan! C-can I get your autograph? C-can you record a voice message for me?!” she hyperventilated.

Maddy opened her eyes, groaning in pain, and ready to spew several foul curses; but awakening to Shyren and Muffet’s icy stares subdued her into silence. Shyren flicked her phone screen.

“Muffet. You know that sad doll on the ground from somewhere?” she sneered.

The default smile returned to the Mew Mew Kissy Cutie doll, a yellow mist wafting off its joints. One of Muffet’s eyes scoped the cloud vanishing into a nearby chair, which discreetly began dragging itself away.

The spider hissed:  “Sorry dearie, but no. Doesn’t ring any bells…” She tugged a nearby silk string, (a cautionary spider trap), which sent the suspicious chair crashing down.

The chair yelped.


End file.
